PETALING JAYA, April 7 ― Rose Foundation and Etiqa have launched the second phase of the Free Cervical Screening Programme to screen another 6,000 eligible women across Malaysia.
The announcement was made yesterday in conjunction with World Health Day 2021 today.
This comes after the success of the maiden programme where more than 6,000 women from underprivileged B40 communities in Peninsular and East Malaysia were screened despite the challenges of Covid-19 and lockdowns.
The programme also benefited some 1,500 frontliners including nurses, police and army personnel under the Frontliners Uniting Against Cervical Cancer campaign.
More than 100 community volunteers were trained to educate and offer the human papillomavirus (HPV) self-swab test to the selected beneficiaries that were screened in more than 40 40 locations across nine states in the past year.
First launched in July 2019, Etiqa’s Free Cervical Screening Programme in partnership with Rose Foundation was rolled out to detect and treat women who screen positive for HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer.
Despite being preventable, cervical cancer is the third most common cancer among women in Malaysia and the fourth most common cancer that affects women worldwide.
The three components that make Program Rose revolutionary are self-sampling, HPV DNA testing and the use of a mobile e-platform.
A personal test kit is first handed out to women to allow them to conduct the HPV test themselves before their samples are sent to the Rose Laboratory for testing.
The results are delivered via mobile phone and those who test positive are linked to a government hospital for follow-up.
This form of testing differs from the conventional Pap smear which involves an often uncomfortable annual pelvic examination in that women are given the dignified choice of a quick and painless self-swab that is convenient, followed by the prompt delivery of results.
Malaysia embarked on a milestone to fight against cervical cancer when it adopted the World Health Organisation’s Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem in August 2020.
WHO stressed the need for integrated implementation of services within communities, ensuring equity in access to screening and treatment as well as financial protection for all women in order to eliminate cervical cancer.
HPV vaccination, cervical screening and treatment, and concrete targets to be achieved by 2030 are the three pillars outlined by the WHO.
“The mission of Rose Foundation, which is to serve the under-screened and underprivileged population, is aligned with this year’s World Health Day theme of ‘Building a fairer and healthier world’,” Rose Foundation chair and University of Malaya infectious diseases specialist Prof Datuk Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman said in her speech.
“Cervical cancer is another example of inequity where 80 per cent of the global incidence of cervical cancer happens in lower middle-income countries.”
She added that the Frontliners Uniting Against Cervical Cancer campaign was a public health success that was awarded with two honours.
The campaign was awarded the International Neighbour of Choice grant by Merck Sharp & Dohme which supports outstanding work by non-profit organisations in November 2020 and in March, the campaign won the This is Public Health award by the Global Network for Academic Public Health.
“On the eve of World Health Day, it’s important to highlight that cervical cancer is the third most common cancer among Malaysian women, but the only cancer that can be eliminated with proper prevention intervention,” Etiqa group chairman Datuk R. Karunakaran said.
“Thus, I am pleased to announce that following the success of Phase 1 of Etiqa’s Free Cervical Screening Programme with Rose Foundation, Etiqa will be embarking on Phase 2 of the programme.
“Etiqa together with Rose Foundation will continue to support free cervical screening for 6,000 B40 women.
“We hope to reach more communities and promote self-care intervention for women’s reproductive health and rights with the free screening Etiqa is providing.”
The launch which took place at the University of Malaya Art Gallery concluded with a short forum titled Frontliners Uniting Against Cervical Cancer.
